Page 164 - Christies IMportant Chinese Art Sept 26 2020 NYC

ANOTHER PROPERTY
1617
AN EXCEEDINGLY RARE AND SUPERBLY MODELED FAMILLE ROSE
FIGURE OF A SEATED LUOHAN
YONGZHENG-QIANLONG PERIOD (1723-1795)
The luohan is shown seated wearing long turquoise and pink-enameled robes with
brown trim decorated with yellow-enameled roundels and gilt borders, and he holds a
censer in his right hand. His face has a serene expression with downturned eyes and a
slight smile, and wears long earrings that fall to his shoulders. The throne is finely and
dynamically modeled in the form of jagged rocks, and shaded in blue and turquoise
enamel with black-enameled edges. The base of the figure is incised on one side with
the characters xi jiu (west nine), and on the other side with the character yi (one). The
top of the throne is incised with the characters dong er (east two).
The figure with stand 9¡ in. (23.8 cm.) high
$200,000-400,000
PROVENANCE:
Private collection, United States.

This rare and superbly modeled and enameled figure depicts a luohan, also known
as an arhat, a devout Buddhist who attained enlightenment. Although they are
considered holy in India, arhats only became figures of devotion when Buddhism
spread to Tibet. Amongst these figures, a group of sixteen has been singled out as
the most revered, and as Tibetan Buddhism was adopted by the Qing Imperial court
to be the primary religion, these sixteen figures were frequently depicted in different
media. The present figure depicts the sixteenth of this group, Abhedya, holding a
censer.

清雍正/乾隆 粉彩羅漢坐像

Fig. 1 A pair of famille rose seated figures of luohans, Yongzheng-Qianlong period (1723-1795).
Sold Christie’s Hong Kong, 3 June 2015, lot 3020.